Gallo powers Pelicans past Mudcats, win sixth straight

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans homered their way to teir sixth straight win with a 12-6 victory over the Carolina Mudcats in the series opener on Friday night at Pelicans Ballpark.

Joey Gallo crushed his 19th and 20th homers of the season and collected a franchise-record-tying seven RBI, single-handedly driving in more runs than the Mudcats.

The first-place Pelicans (35-17) got on base in front of Gallo, and he did the rest. The Birds trailed 4-0 and 6-3, but put two on base in front of Gallo in the fifth. With two outs, he hit a towering three-run home run to right field to tie the game. It was Gallo’s first home run in ten games.

The home run completed the comeback off of Carolina right-hander D.J Brown who had tossed three scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the fourth and the fifth.

Myrtle Beach got three innings out of their starter Sam Wolff who allowed two runs, both on Ryan Battaglia’s first homer of the year in the second. Jason Knapp surrendered two runs in the fourth, and Cody Ege allowed two more in the fifth on a long ball swatted by Anthony Gallas.

In a tie 6-6 contest in the seventh, the Pelicans rallied against Clayton Cook, the first Mudcats reliever. The Birds loaded the bases on a hit batter, a single, and a walk. Gallo then came to the plate with the bases loaded. He slammed a 2-1 pitch over the left field video board. The grand slam was the fourth of his career and put the Pelicans ahead 10-6.

It was Gallo’s fifth multi-homer game of the year and 14th of his career. He had seven last year and two in 2012. The seven RBI tied him with Zach Zaneski (2011) and Tyler Flowers (2008) for the most in one game in franchise history; Gallo is the only of the three to do so at home. He also walked and scored three runs.

Carolina (23-29) surrendered another run in the five-run, eleven-batter inning for Myrtle Beach. Nick Williams launched a solo homer in the eighth to tack on another, putting the Pelicans ahead 12-6, which held as the final score.

Ege (3-0) earned the win, tossing two scoreless innings after the two-run fifth. Cook (0-1) took the loss for his first Mudcats decision.

The Pelicans play game two of their series with the Mudcats on Saturday night at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.